Meta has announced that it will reduce its workforce by 13%, resulting in the loss of 11,000 jobs globally. Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has released a memo this morning which read: “Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history.
"I've made the decision to let more than 11,000 of our excellent employees go in order to lower the size of our workforce by around 13%. "We are also reducing discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1 in order to create a smaller and more effective firm," the statement continued.
About 3,000 people are directly employed by Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in Ireland. Meta employs over 87,000 people worldwide. The European headquarters of Meta are located in Ireland, which is also its largest base outside of the US.
According to estimates, the team's size in Ireland will also be reduced by 13%, potentially resulting in the layoff of up to 400 local employees.
The decision made today "does not have any influence on Ireland's standing, or on our long-term investment plans in Ireland," according to a Meta Ireland representative.
"We appreciate Ireland's and in particular the Irish Government's sustained support for our business here," the spokesman continued. The job losses, according to the Meta Ireland spokeswoman, were "a hard but necessary choice to restructure portions of the company."
Full-time Meta employees in Ireland will be impacted by the job losses, however contract staff employed by other parties will not. There may be 6,000 of these contract employees in Ireland. "The timeframe and process will be determined by Irish government guidelines, which will see potentially impacted staff entering collective consultation," the statement continued.
"I want to take accountability for these actions and for how we got here," Zuckerberg said in today's memo. I apologise in particular to those who are impacted because I realise this is difficult for everyone.
Leo Varadkar, the Tánaiste, stated earlier today that people who lose their jobs will receive a redundancy and leave package.
The corporation has given us the utmost certainty that all legal procedures will be followed, according to Varadkar. Therefore, there will be at least 30 days of notification and dialogue prior to any layoffs.
The personnel will also receive a redundancy plan and an exit package to ensure that they have some financial security.In the run-up to Christmas, Varadkar noted that it is a "very tough time of year to get such news" and that his "thoughts are with the employees."
The Tánaiste added that the administration "will ensure that they receive the assistance they require to find alternative work." "There are many employment in the tech sector, and it's still a sector that is increasing overall," he continued.
Additionally, he gave instances of "people who have previously worked for IT organisations and have gone on to establish up their own businesses and do extremely well for themselves."
Following recent job losses at Lyft and Stripe, Meta is the most recent digital titan to lay off personnel. Twitter also last week pledged to cut half its 7,500-strong workforce.
